This is just for reference, but since this is for introductions in general I cannot just explain my user name and stop there. I'll try a proper introduction.

I was born in '77, which should make me the oldest on board for now.
My first conscious Anime experience was "Akira", which I saw in 1991. "Project A-Ko" and "Fist of the North Star" followed, along with much other stuff. In the beginning I didn't like watching series, because I considered them too long and I wasn't yet sure of my new hobby. Took years until I saw a full 26 episode series for the first time, and I forgot what it was.
Of course I had seen Anime before "Akira", because it was on TV, but I did not know "Heidi", "Sabre Rider" and "Captain Future" were Anime, I just knew Japanese were involved, and for some prejudice reason now unknown to me I thought that Japanese series were garbage. Well, before I was "awakened" I thought so.

I have had 13 years of school education during which I loved English and hated French, I got a hang of history but never got anything positive from maths and the sciences. So, after two years in the army and a year of being unemployed (because there was no free room where I wanted to study) I started studying Japanese, English linguistics and phonetics.

I chose English because I thought it was an easy subject (it's not), and phonetics because... well, I needed to choose a third subject and the professor is a nice guy. Japanese is my major which came to me due to the influence of Japanese popular culture, but the notion that Japanese, unlike German studies or Finance Administration, wouldn't be chosen by any idiot, was far more important - and I like doing stuff that no one else does (as long as it suits my needs and tastes).

In 2003 I was sent to Japan to intensify my language training and make first-hand experiences with Japanese culture. It was the best time of my life, although I admit I could have made it more effective academically. Still I decided that having a good time and making new friends was the prime objective, which I achieved.

In spring 2004 I joined the Animetric forum because Anime news had it that Hayashibara Megumi was pregnant. I was so fired up by these news that I had to post it in a forum - which I had no experience with at all - or I would explode for the joy of it. So I made a thread labelled "Seiyû reproduction" and I received my very first reply from Kesshi Masshin. First post and first noobish action because there was, of course, already a Seiyû thread in existence.

In autumn 2004 I returned to the fatherland and began a year-long struggle as I needed a job to pay for rent and food. I was saved by the help of friends and just before doom - my savings were running out - by finally finding a job. I have been some kind of a janitor in a store which sells oriental rugs ever since, swinging the vacuum cleaner and delivering by car. Fun job, actually. Next to that I became a piano transporter. Hard work, but good pay and good employer, too. But after an accident due to a new colleague's lack of experience, I lost this job along with six others, and only two were kept. So it's only rugs these days.

I was pretty shocked when Animetric was suddenly offline. I felt and feel good in this community and it was a fixed part of my freetime. Since I suddenly had 60 minutes more per day I needed to spend them somehow, but instead of doing something productive, I ended up looking up Japanese porn sites, and there are many of them which offer free samples. Using movie maker I just puzzled the samples together and got me a little collection... uh, well.
Some day, Rowena posted the message that she would sell Animetric. Reviewing my financial situation I made an offer... which was obviously and probably easily beaten by acmurphy, and I hoped he would reopen the forum soon, which he did. Thanks for that.

As for my user name.
When I made my first steps in the internet back in '99, I was labelled "Black Death".
This is an old remnant from my early roleplaying days and I soon realized that this old name was referring to a state of mind which I no longer had. "Black Death" was an expression of my wish to be manly, strong and respected by trying to look invulnerable, which I had already realized as a stupid idea, because I had found out that my life was far more relaxed when I was just being myself. I learned this, believe it or not, by watching "SailorMoon" when I was in hospital for six weeks in 1998.

But my mind was not purified by watching the show. Starting from SailorMoon I started collecting all kinds of Hentai Manga pictures and bought "Lunatic Party", a rather famous anthology of SailorMoon Hentai works. In German forum circles I came to be known as the "Hentaiman".
Which did not do me any good because German internetters consider forums to be made for fierce arguments and flaming each other, so I received a lot of flak for my user name. I soon quit German communities. It was the first time I really felt hate against someone, and I didn't like it.

When I stumbled upon Animetric by looking up "Anime Forum" on the internet I had to think of a new user name. One without open connotations. Somehow I came up with "42317". It is not without connotation, but only to those who know how to read the code - which would be Germans who have done military service or the selected few outsiders to whom I would explain the matter.
The original number reads "140777-S-42317" and is the number written on my dog tags, which I have kept as a souvenir from the old army days (the second-best time of my life). The first row is my birthday, "S" is the first letter of my last name, and "42317" deciphers as such:

4 is the number of my defense district. I think there are six in Germany.
231 is the number of my draft office.
Last but not least, I was examinee #7 to see the doctor on medical examination day.

"A number can tell you many things", says my signature, and that is true. If you study the locations a bit you get a rough picture of in which area in Germany I live, and had I used the whole tag number, you'd also know my birthday and my last name's initial letter. But "42317" is personal enough I guess.

Well, I found my way back to the Animetric forums, and I am very glad about that. The growth rate of my porn collection has almost come to a halt since I reentered a few months ago, and that's a good thing. My girlfriend knows about my general internet activities and scorns my collecting (non-porn) pictures of cute girls. But she remains silent because she is collecting all sorts of pictures of certain Japanese boy groups herself, like "NEWS", "KATTUN" or "Kanjani 8".

I feel good being back, so let's work together to make Animetric a good hangout place.

Joined: March 11th, 2007, 11:19 amPosts: 2452Location: In the Tardis, off to who knows where in who knows when!

Certainly a proper introduction for yourself.

And I had no idea you were one of the people I was up against in purchasing the site! (Now I feel bad ) I knew that there were other offers, but I had no idea how much they were for nor who the people were. Guess it shouldn't really surprise me, if someone was willing to buy the site they would undoubtedly be a regular visitor that would be interested in joining the forum once I got them back up.

I had no idea you were one of the people I was up against in purchasing the site! (Now I feel bad )

Don't feel bad - I'm having a good time around here. The feeling is different from before, though, because the OG guys' priorities have obviously changed. Like, I remember Spaz being a pinch more aggressive and Cypher used to be around more often in general.
But it's still an open minded community, I can post all kinds of stuff without anybody getting pushy and all, and I like that very much. Giving and taking information, with a little teasing now and then, all in good humor. All I need.

Now that cjed has re-enlisted I'm not the most senior anymore, but I'd like to add some other detail, pre-biographical, so to speak:

I could have been a US citizen in some sorta way.

The parents of my grandma's grandfather decided in the late 1870s to emigrate to the United States and lived in Indiana, where their first child was born (it's a pity that granny forgot the name of the town). But in the early 1880s the young mother became sick and the doctor said to her husband: "If you don't get your wife back home she will die of homesickness."It was done, she recovered completely and gave birth to two more kids, one of them being my direct ancestor.

What do you know? There are probably not many people in whose family line you find someone who emigrated from the US. It sounds rare to me.

On May 31st I passed my oral exam in the English department after four months of straight studying. I am as of now an expert on corpus linguistics and its classroom applications.

No one who has never done it can imagine the agony that came along with it, when you think that whatever you read and learn you will never remember enough of it to pass... I caught myself sitting in the shower tub giggling manically several times... which is disturbing. When I failed at my first attempt at the (English) B.A. exam and barely made it at the second attempt I fell into a depressive phase that has dragged on for four years, making me feel insecure and inadequate at any academic matter that I tried in the meantime. But now my final English exam is over and I made it through with a satisfying result. For the first time in years I fell that my life may not gonna be only blood, sweat, and tears. It's like a heavy load was lifted from my soul. I don't feel "happy-go-lucky" or anything, but I feel a firm satisfaction in my chest. I can now go to my Japanese and Phonetics exams with a totally new state of mind - hopeful.

The Japanese exam will take place in the third week of July. Wish me luck... I won't need much but please do it anyways... it might therefore be six or seven weeks before I re-emerge for a SitRep and some of the usual rambling and a little ranting.

For now my best wishes to all you other exam suckers. You are not alone!

On May 31st I passed my oral exam in the English department after four months of straight studying. I am as of now an expert on corpus linguistics and its classroom applications.

No one who has never done it can imagine the agony that came along with it, when you think that whatever you read and learn you will never remember enough of it to pass... I caught myself sitting in the shower tub giggling manically several times... which is disturbing. When I failed at my first attempt at the (English) B.A. exam and barely made it at the second attempt I fell into a depressive phase that has dragged on for four years, making me feel insecure and inadequate at any academic matter that I tried in the meantime. But now my final English exam is over and I made it through with a satisfying result. For the first time in years I fell that my life may not gonna be only blood, sweat, and tears. It's like a heavy load was lifted from my soul. I don't feel "happy-go-lucky" or anything, but I feel a firm satisfaction in my chest. I can now go to my Japanese and Phonetics exams with a totally new state of mind - hopeful.

The Japanese exam will take place in the third week of July. Wish me luck... I won't need much but please do it anyways... it might therefore be six or seven weeks before I re-emerge for a SitRep and some of the usual rambling and a little ranting.

For now my best wishes to all you other exam suckers. You are not alone!

On May 31st I passed my oral exam in the English department after four months of straight studying. I am as of now an expert on corpus linguistics and its classroom applications. But now my final English exam is over and I made it through with a satisfying result. For the first time in years I fell that my life may not gonna be only blood, sweat, and tears. It's like a heavy load was lifted from my soul. I don't feel "happy-go-lucky" or anything, but I feel a firm satisfaction in my chest.

That's great man! Congratulations!!!

42317 wrote:

I can now go to my Japanese and Phonetics exams with a totally new state of mind - hopeful. The Japanese exam will take place in the third week of July. Wish me luck... I won't need much but please do it anyways...

Hard-workers are always rewarded! Viel Glück!!!

Quote:

For now my best wishes to all you other exam suckers. You are not alone!

In spring 2004 I joined the Animetric forum because Anime news had it that Hayashibara Megumi was pregnant. I was so fired up by these news that I had to post it in a forum - which I had no experience with at all - or I would explode for the joy of it. So I made a thread labelled "Seiyû reproduction" and I received my very first reply from Kesshi Masshin. First post and first noobish action because there was, of course, already a Seiyû thread in existence.

Thanks, everyone for your encouraging words. As I said elsewhere I passed the Japanese exam - so there's only one oral exam left. Only one. The very final exam. In phonetics. 30 minutes of interrogation. I chose "general phonetics" as a topic, which makes the range wide but the depth shallow. Nice option, really. Usually exams are, like, divided into three topics and you have to dive in real deep to make a good impression. Three weeks is short, so I'm going for "just pass and never mind the mark".

Kesshi wrote:

42317 wrote:

I made a thread labelled "Seiyû reproduction" and I received my very first reply from Kesshi Masshin.

How do you remember that far back...

I remember the weirdest stuff. Only stuff that doesn't earn me money but there's ever again something that would make people smile and say "You remember that?"

I am back.I have ended a decade of academic struggle, stress, and nightmares.And I have ended it in success.If I was asked to name a song that described my feelings well, I'd probably choose this one:

Fits perfectly well.

Had my last exam on Friday, went home and played StarCraft all day.In the evening I had to demolish a door in my apartment because the mechanism was broken and I couldn't get out of my room anymore. Wasn't hard, just a cardbord core with some 1 mm wood on top. I hope it won't be too expensive.Saturday I went out riding my bike around the hilly area where I live. Ended in complete exhaustion after six hours, but I needed it and it was worth every minute of pain and teeth grinding. Feels great to feel alive after all these years that had me rather depressed.

So I'm back on the forum, at least until I find a steady job. That's the next target. I dunno what'll happen afterwards, but I hope I'll have the time to remain in good contact with all of you, whom I thank very much for the moral support you have given me in these last six months.

I am back.I have ended a decade of academic struggle, stress, and nightmares.And I have ended it in success.If I was asked to name a song that described my feelings well, I'd probably choose this one:

Fits perfectly well.So I'm back on the forum, at least until I find a steady job. That's the next target. I dunno what'll happen afterwards, but I hope I'll have the time to remain in good contact with all of you, whom I thank very much for the moral support you have given me in these last six months.

Congratulations 42317!! I'm glad everything worked out well for you. It must have been some really stressful 6 months! Best of lucks as a newly graduate Pokemon master!!

Joined: March 11th, 2007, 11:19 amPosts: 2452Location: In the Tardis, off to who knows where in who knows when!

Very nice work 42317! I can only imagine how happy you must feel finally being done with it after all the time and effort you had to put in. What exactly are you looking for a job in now that you've finished?

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